Mike Majewski, of Woodbridge, Conn., carries a pistol into Starbucks in Newtown, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 9, 2013. Many Second Amendment supporters carried their firearms into Starbucks on Starbucks Appreciation Day to exercise their right to bear arms and thank the company for allowing firearms in their stores, as allowed by state law. However, the Newtown Action Alliance urged gun owners to hold off, saying it is insensitive to the community that is still recovering from the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, just over a mile down the street.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Shannon Doherty, of Sandy Hook, Conn., stands outside of Starbucks in Newtown, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 9, 2013. Doherty found it insensitive that many Second Amendment supporters carried their firearms into Starbucks on Starbucks Appreciation Day to exercise their right to bear arms in Newtown. The Newtown Action Alliance urged gun owners to hold off, saying it is insensitive to the community that is still recovering from the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, just over a mile down the street.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Mike Majewski, of Woodbridge, Conn., holds the door for customers while carrying a pistol into Starbucks in Newtown, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 9, 2013. Many Second Amendment supporters carried their firearms into Starbucks on Starbucks Appreciation Day to exercise their right to bear arms and thank the company for allowing firearms in their stores, as allowed by state law. However, the Newtown Action Alliance urged gun owners to hold off, saying it is insensitive to the community that is still recovering from the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, just over a mile down the street.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Robin Riley, of Sandy Hook, peers into the window as Newtown resident Diane Costallos, left, and her children Morgan, 7, and Cooper, 3, approach the entrance after Starbucks in Newtown, Conn. closed early on Friday, Aug. 9, 2013. Many Second Amendment supporters carried their firearms into Starbucks on Starbucks Appreciation Day to exercise their right to bear arms and thank the company for allowing firearms in their stores, as allowed by state law. However, the Newtown Action Alliance urged gun owners to hold off, saying it is insensitive to the community that is still recovering from the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, just over a mile down the street.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Customers gather outside of Starbucks in Newtown, Conn. after the store closed early on Friday, Aug. 9, 2013. Many Second Amendment supporters carried their firearms into Starbucks on Starbucks Appreciation Day to exercise their right to bear arms and thank the company for allowing firearms in their stores, as allowed by state law. However, the Newtown Action Alliance urged gun owners to hold off, saying it is insensitive to the community that is still recovering from the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, just over a mile down the street.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

This sign was posted on the front door of Starbucks in Newtown, Conn. after the store closed early on Friday, August 9, 2013. Many Second Amendment supporters carried their firearms into Starbucks on Starbucks Appreciation Day to exercise their right to bear arms and thank the company for allowing firearms in their stores, as allowed by state law. However, the Newtown Action Alliance urged gun owners to hold off, saying it is insensitive to the community that is still recovering from the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, just over a mile down the street.
Photo: Contributed Photo

The still-raw emotions created by the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and its aftermath, boiled over here Friday, as gun rights supporters poured into the local Starbucks, to the dismay of many.

The Church Hill Road store, normally open until 9:30 p.m. closed at 4:30 p.m. A sign posted on the front of the store said it did so "out of respect for Newtown and everything our community has been through.

"We recognize there is significant passion surrounding the topic,'' the sign said. "However, we believe people should be sensitive to our community.''

The early closing angered people who continued to show up after 6 p.m. to go to Starbucks out of support for gun rights.

"I came here to support Starbucks for supporting the Constitution,'' said Dom Basile, of Watertown. "Now, they're not supporting us.''

"These laws are shredding our Constitution,'' Mike Long, of Sandy Hook, said of the state's strict gun control laws passed after the Dec. 14 mass shooting which killed 20 young children and six educators. "I moved here because this is The Constitution State.''

However, those who want stricter gun control, or those who believed the Newtown Starbucks was not the place to be confrontational about the issue, were appalled by the flow of gun rights advocates into town, given the plethora of other Starbucks outlets.

"I was nauseated by it,'' said Heather Smith, who works with both Moms Demand Action and the Newtown Action Alliance to support stronger gun laws. "Heartlessness has hit a new low. I consider these people terrorists.''

"I respect the Second Amendment,'' said Marie Delus, of Brooklyn, N.Y., another member of Moms Demand Action. "I'm a Marine and a Desert Storm veteran. But I totally disrespect them coming to Newtown.''

Others were just disappointed a regular access point for caffeine was closed.

"I'm going to Dunkin Donuts,'' said one driver.

Because the chain observes local and state gun laws -- including those allowing people to carry weapons into individual stores -- Second Amendment advocates have created Starbucks Appreciation Day to thank the chain.

On Friday, gun rights advocates chose the store at Ground Zero of the state's gun law debates as the place to buy a latte. The store is 1.5 miles away from Sandy Hook Elementary School and next door to St. Rose of Lima Church, which held funerals for many of the victims.

Starbucks said in an email that it did not support or endorse the action.

But from late morning and throughout the afternoon, dozens of supporters of the Second Amendment gun rights from all over the state ­-- some carrying pistols on their belts, some wearing camouflage -- made a point of stopping there.

Some wore T-shirts bearing the name and logo of the Connecticut Citizen's Defense League.

Their intention, said Chris Duffy, of New Britain, was not to agitate, but to take a stand for gun rights and against those who would strike them down.

"It wasn't organized,'' Duffy said. "It was more of people calling each other on their cell phones this morning saying `What are you doing for lunch?'''

Some said the store was a logical place to make a stand.

"If not here, where?'' said Mike Love, an Tennessean who now lives part of the time in Bulgaria. "What place is safe?"

E. Jonathan Hardy, of Meriden, pointed out that gun control advocates from Newtown have spread across the state with their message.

"They can come to me town, but I can't come to theirs?'' he said. "It make no sense to me.''

Not everyone was appreciative of the display of weaponry in the store.

"I think it's disgusting,'' said one woman leaving the coffee shop. "I love my Starbucks. This has nothing to do with them.''

Shannon Doherty, of Newtown, who was at Sandy Hook Elementary School the day of the shooting, compared the appearance of the gun rights advocates to that of the Westboro Baptist Church, the group that rallies, or at least threatens to rally, at sensitive places to carry forth their message against homosexuals.

"Those people are just agitators,'' he said. "They're so insensitive. It feels like they're just ripping the bandage off the wounds.''

The founder of Newtown Action Alliance, a local grass roots organization which supports stricter gun control laws, said the group was trying to discourage gun rights groups from holding a Starbucks Appreciation Day in Newtown Friday.

"Our community is still healing and we find it reprehensible that they are picking Newtown to rally," David Ackert said.

He said he found it disturbing that "you and your children may be sitting in Starbucks when people carrying guns walk through the door."

The group Sandy Hook Promise also condemned the gathering of gun rights advocates in Newtown.

"As supporters of the Second Amendment, it saddens us today to hear that residents outside our community have designated our local Newtown Starbucks as a site to openly carry their firearms in order to `celebrate' gun ownership,'' the group said in a press statement. "We support the right of all voices in this debate to be heard, but believe that the sensitivities in Newtown deserve special consideration as well.''

Ackert, of the Newtown Action Alliance, said the organization encourages Starbucks to evaluate its corporate policy regarding guns in the shops and urges the company to "take a stance similar to its smoking ban."

Heather Fascitelli, a local nanny who was bringing two small children under her care to the Newtown Starbucks Friday, said she wasn't aware of the company's policy concerning guns.

"I understand people's legal rights and they should be able to carry," she said. "But it makes me really uncomfortable to know people inside could be armed."

"Why would you need guns at a Starbucks?" asked Donna Monteleone, a Newtown resident and veteran of the U.S. Army, as she threw her hands into the air. "Why would you need them anywhere unless you're law enforcement?"